On February 9, Monday, T-Mobile told users to expect the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for their HTC One M8 devices, but, as that didn't happen, the carrier circled back and gave out a new date: February 10, one day later (yesterday). It finally looks like users are able to get the refresh over-the-air as several HTC One M8 owners on T-Mobile have reported its existence and delivery. You can go ahead and manually check for the Lollipop update, or wait for the OTA notification to hit your phone. It should arrive any time now. Another device, another part of the world: in India, the Samsung ...

Back in August, Google retired the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition. It had been one of only three phones to survive the big July GPe purge – the other two, the One M8 and Moto G, continue to be listed on Google Play to this day (though neither's currently available for purchase). But even with the GS4 GPe put out to pasture, support for the phone's far from over, and tonight we witness it join the growing ranks of Play edition models receiving their Lollipop updates. Models like Sony's Xperia Z Ultra and the HTC One M8 may have beaten the Galaxy S4 to the Lollipop update table, but ...

Yesterday we saw Samsung finally get its Lollipop update ball rolling, beginning distribution of Android 5.0 for the Galaxy S5. While initial availability was highly region-restricted, it was still a big step forward. But what does the existence of that update spell for updates designed for other Samsung hardware? At the time, we speculated a little about what yesterday's development could mean for future US carrier-specific GS5 Lollipop updates, but today we're looking at the rest of Samsung's device lineup, as word arrives of when we might hope to start seeing those release go out. The ...

It's not often we hear of updates for 2013 phones these days, with 2015 (and with it, CES) just a month away at this point. That also means that when these updates do come around, they're bound to be important, and for some people this Verizon Galaxy S4 OTA update will be very well received. So what's this update about? Well, according to Verizon, it's to fix an "intermittent power cycle issue". That's fancy talk for "the phone kept crashing, so we decided that we had to update it before we got more angry phone calls." Additionally, a VPN connectivity issue has been squashed. All in all, a ...

The leaked Lollipop builds are coming in fast and hard. Just yesterday we were oohing and aahing over a couple of leaked screenshots of the LG G3's update, and now we're given a full hands-on tour of 2013's Samsung Galaxy S4 Lollipop update with enough pictures and video to tide even the pickiest people over. In the update, the Galaxy S4 is updated to Nature UX 3.0 (at least the I9500 model), but there's no word on the I9505 at this time. Surprisingly, TouchWiz and Lollipop apparently mesh quite well as far as fluidity, stability, and some parts of the overall aesthetic go ...

Samsung is definitely not having its best couple of quarters when it comes to its economics, but we wish this was the only drama the Korean giant faces right now. We've seen the continuous patent lawsuits that the company has lost against Apple, and we also know this is not the only lawsuit Samsung faces. NVIDIA is another company that's currently battling Samsung over patents, and some recent developments might complicate things even more. NVIDIA has recently announced that the ITC (US International Trade Commission) has voted to investigate whether certain of Samsung's recent devices ...

The debate over build quality, design, and materials in the smartphone realm will never end. The matter is largely, if not entirely, subjective and typically boils down to preference and personal experiences. No one material is wholly better than another. Plastic bends, scratches, cracks, and it often feels incredibly cheap. Metal typically feels nicer and gives phones some much-needed heft, but scratches and dings even worse than plastic. Unlike easily replaceable plastic battery doors, metal usually is not easily or affordably replaced. And glass is also weighty, but it shatters, ...

Samsung has long been the king of Android. Its Galaxy S smartphone has far outsold any of its competitors' Android handsets by the millions, quarter after quarter, year after year. It's aided in pushing mobile hardware and Android as a platform forward, and has even attempted to fork the Android ecosystem by instilling its own ecosystem within Android, selling movies, music, and other digital content through its own store. Samsung has, for the better part of its smartphone career, largely steered the direction of smartphones and led the industry. That is, until recently. Over the last two ...

Google Play edition devices have been slowly picked off over the last couple months, with the last ones to go being the HTC One (M7), Sony Z Ultra, and LG G Pad 8.3 back in early July. Couple that with the unknown fate of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play edition, and things are looking pretty glum for this line of phones. It hasn't ended with that though, with the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition removed earlier today. The phone's dismissal has wiped it clean of the Google Play editions compilation page you see above, but the Google Play link is still functioning. As you see below, though, ...

Last week saw Google take the chopping block to its selection of Play edition devices for sale, pulling the HTC One, Sony Z Ultra, and the LG G Pad 8.3 from its listings. While that may be a sign that new, more modern GPe hardware is on its way, it was still a little shocking to see some of those models retired after just over half a year. If you're wishing you jumped at the chance to buy one when they were available, we've got just the deal for you, as retailer Expansys puts these former (and one still current) GPe models on sale, offering some decent savings in the process. Expansys has ...

With all the smartphones available, picking your next phone can be a serious challenge. Each month, multiple new phones are added to the mix, all with varying levels of specifications, different software, new features, different degrees of build quality, and designs. To make it worse, a lot of the newer – and sometimes older – phones overlap one another. For instance, some of HTC's newest smartphones (the Desire 610 and One mini 2, for instance), while slightly different, cover the exact same ground and target the same demographics. The other factor to consider is your carrier of ...

Samsung hasn't always been the best with Android updates on its devices, especially considering the sheer number of phones and tablets it manufactures on a yearly basis. The wait's always been the most minimal on flagship devices, however, and it seems that the Galaxy S5 (and last year's Galaxy S4) are slated to receive Android 4.4.3 quite soon. According to a leaked Samsung internal document obtained by Android Geeks, updates for the S5 are finalized, and ready to start heading out in June. The first devices to receive the update will almost certainly be unlocked and global models, with ...

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Value Edition has received its Bluetooth certification in February, before MWC, as the GT-i9515, but it managed to somehow miss the show floor. Now, 14 months after the introduction of the S4 -- and almost three months after announcing the S5 -- the Value Edition of the phone is available in some regions of Europe (so far, according to reports, The Netherlands, and Italy). Depending on the retailer, it goes for around €400-€500 ($545-$680) unlocked, and brings absolutely nothing new to the table, aside from a grey color (there's also a white one), and Android ...

It's the question every buyer with a limited budget or a frugal sensibility asks when a new flagship smartphone lands: do I need the new one, or can I save some dough by buying last year's model? Thanks to our annual-upgrade culture here in the States, the question is asked millions of times a month each spring season, mimicking the clockwork of the smartphone release cycle. But though the dilemma isn't a new one, the devices are: "Galaxy S5 vs S4" is just as crucial as "Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8" – a comparison we already bestowed upon you a few days back. In fact, thanks to the ...

The Black Edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced at the end of January, and we've seen the phone in person with the occasion of our visit to Barcelona for the MWC. Since we were there, we took a little time to compare it to the original Galaxy S4, but don't expect differences, aside from the actual, physical, outer aspect of the phone. Later, Samsung announced that the Black Edition phone will be available in the UK, but at that time there were no details about exact pricing and availability. Phones4U now has the phone listed in its offer and it goes for the same price as the ...

Make no mistake, I'm a Nexus fan. I've owned every Nexus smartphone to date. I've passed up many of the "flagship" models from other OEMs, opting instead to stick with "older" technology. Put another way, I'm usually 6-months out-of-date when it comes to the "latest and greatest" smartphone because I'm not jumping to LG, HTC, Samsung, or Sony's newest phone. With the typical contract cycle being two years in these United States, I thought using a phone for one year would be the norm. Imagine my surprise when I learned that many of you are abandoning your flagship phone so you can switch to ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Nokia's new sale whenever you buy the new Lumia 2520 Windows tablet. We later go through more deals as retailers have dropped the price of the Google Nexus 7. Motorola follows the news as the company has just hired a 3D printing firm to take care of Project Ara. Leaks of Samsung's plans to upgrade the Galaxy Line-up to Android 4.4 KitKat follow after that. We end today's show talking about certain leaks showing a metal frame for the possible Samsung Galaxy S5. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Nokia offering free Power Keyboard ...

We're devoting a lot of attention to the Galaxy S 4 these days, and we like to think it's a pretty fair spread: we've got opinions for and against the device in terms of how well it competes against its chief Android rival, the HTC One. Alongside our podcast and hangout commentary, we've got reasons to pick it up alongside reasons to wonder if some of its most prized features are outright gimmicks. It's that last point I want to address here. Many of the features Samsung rolled into its previous halo smartphone, the Galaxy S III, were pejoratively labeled "gimmicks" by some before its ...

Most technology demos start off by a well spoken executive talking about how great in general his new device is, because it's going to give him that much bigger boat/jet/whatever. Then, a photogenic engineer comes on and tells you about some stuff, followed by another photogenic engineer, etc. Samsung brought actual actors to the stage to not only tell you what their new phone did, but also to show you what their new phone did. Actors reenacted little scenes on a stage where Samsung's new and innovative software rode in to save the day during a tap dance recital, a backpacking trip to ...

Software, for the time being, is the biggest differentiation between the Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4 by Samsung. Sure, as it's been explained countless times now, the specifications are different. The S4 has a larger, much more dense display, a faster processor (on both models) with more cores, the battery has 500 more milliamp-hours and the camera is a 13-megapixel sensor, versus 8-megapixels in the older model. But as I explained earlier today, the real world performance advantages between the Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4 will ultimately be negligible. The only truly significant upgrade ...

Having sold over 50 million Galaxy S IIIs worldwide, the Galaxy S brand has quickly become a common household name. And we all were expecting big things from Samsung for the follow-up device. Weeks of rumors and leaks alleged the successor would be more of an incremental upgrade, sharing a nearly identical design and offering specification upgrade to catch it up to the host of 5-inch 1080p flagships unveiled earlier this year. Yesterday evening, all speculation was put to rest as the Galaxy S 4 was made official and detailed in grandiose style. A tap dancer, cheesy scenario role-plays and ...

One of the most anticipated -- if not the most anticipated -- Android phone releases of the year is about to happen in exactly one week: Samsung is going to unveil the latest member of their Galaxy family, the follow-up to last year's successful Galaxy S III, their flagship for this year, the Galaxy S IV. There have been, as usual, lots of rumors and speculation surrounding the phone with the occasional leaks, legit or faked, but we never really sat down together to tell you what it is that we are expecting from Samsung. Is it the looks? Is it the specs? Is it the software features? Or a ...

With less than ten days to go until the Samsung Unpacked event on the 14th of this month in New York, where the South Korean company is expected to unveil its Android flagship for this year, rumors and leaks are piling up, all trying to depict or predict one or more aspects of the Galaxy S4. We've seen some alleged renders of the phone as well as purported benchmark results aside from speculation regarding eye-controlled scrolling. A recent AnTuTu benchmark results claims that the Galaxy S4 (or S IV) will pack an eight-core Exynos 5410 SoC running at 1.8GHz (aided by the PowerVR SGX 544MP ...

Samsung is set to unveil its flagship for this year, the Galaxy S4, on March 14, as part of a special Unpacked event in New York, as well as with some Times Square action on the same day. Last year's flagship made its way to US carriers alright but we hope the S4 will be there even faster. A certain SCH-i959 popped up in benchmarks (the Verizon S III was the SCH-i535, though this model is reportedly going to China Telecom, replacing the S III there running by the model number SCH-i939). We've got a whopping score of 26,250 (and it is surely not final software) and the rest of the specs ...